Friday, August 28, 2009

Staycation

Todd and I took a day off today to have a "staycation" with each other in our fair city. I had just recently remembered that back on August 20th, it was my 30th anniversary of moving to the United States of America from Taiwan! What better way to celebrate, retroactively, by spending some time in "America's Finest City".
First up was some lunch at the best deal in fresh seafood in San Diego, Point Loma Seafoods.
That place is always packed, and today was no exception. Plus today was hot, so the un-air-conditioned inside seating was almost too hot to bear. But we gladly made the sacrifice for our favorite seafood place.
I had a calamari sandwich while Todd had a fresh halibut sandwich.
Todd loves it so much that he said he wants to come back for his birthday.
Next we drove to Old Town San Diego State Historical Park. This is a re-creation of the old town of the city, shortly after the Mexican War of Independence in 1821. There are many buildings that look like they did back then, along with people in period costumes.
Shortly after this photo of Todd was taken, the shopkeeper inside the store (who was dressed in 1800's pioneer clothing) told us that the reason the merchandise inside the stores were modern and not museum-like stuff, is because the state rents these buildings out as stores for merchants, so that the state can recoup some of the money from running the historical park. That was interesting and something we didn't know before.
Here we were in front of an old adobe house.
(I used a lightroom preset by Candice Wong.)
Inside an old pioneer wagon.
(Used "Old West" photo action by Pioneer Woman.)
There's also nice restaurants and courtyards inside the historical park.
We had heard about an olive oil store inside Old Town and wanted to check it out. Their main ranch is actually located in Temecula (an hour away), but they have a store in Old Town that offers tasting. Our kind of place!
We got to taste their Mission, Fresh Basil, Roasted Garlic, and Picante olive oils, plus their California Pomegranate and Vanilla & Fig Balsamic vinegars. Totally delicious! We bought a bottle of the fresh basil olive oil and can't wait to try it on our pastas.
Guess what else was in Old Town? A candy store, much to Todd's delight. He was like a kid in a... candy store!
After Old Town, we headed downtown to Horton Plaza to catch the 4:05pm showing of the movie "Ponyo". I don't know if you've taken your kids to see it yet, but it's a really strange movie! It's cute and all, but the plot is really weird and non-linear. I was left with lots of logical questions that were not answered.
After the movie, we headed to dinner at Monsoon for some Indian cuisine! We've heard about Monsoon for a while now and really wanted to go. I bought a $25 off $35 coupon at Restaurant.com for $2 during their 80% off sale, so this was really worth it.
The decor inside was really cool, with a waterfall and some chandeliers.
The food was really good too. We really like strongly flavored Indian food, not watered-down Indian food, and this place delivered.
It was a wonderful staycation day, right here in our own city. Plus I got to check off some things on my summer to-do list! :)

Wow..that's so cool. Looks like you guys had a wonderful "Staycation" It helps also when you happen to live in one of the most beautiful cities and that people from all over go to for THEIR vacation! You guys are adorable. Got to bookmark some of your favorite restaurants to eat at soo when we go down to SD we'll have to try them out!